Pretoria - Attempts to have the murder trial of the five men accused of killing Senzo Meyiwa stalled in lieu of a trial-within-a-trial to be held first have been rejected by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
As the trial looking into the murder of the former Orlando Pirates player resumed today, advocate Malesela Teffo the defence counsel for four of the five men informed the court he was not comfortable proceeding with the trial.
Teffo told the court that his discomfort came as a result of him recently learning that the accused’s constitutional rights had been grossly violated.
According to Teffo, they had already appeared on October 27 2020, in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court for the same incident where they even refused to enter the dock as they alleged they did not know why they were there, nor were they informed of their rights.
He further drew the court's attention to alleged confessions that were made by the first and second accused, which he claimed had been obtained from the accused only after they had been severally assaulted.
Teffo said it was crucial for the court to deal with the admissibility of the confessions before proceeding with the main trial as without it the confessions remained in limbo.
"Having discovered that my client's rights were violated we submit that there should be a trial-within-a-trial whereby we can be given the opportunity to bring an application and support it but to proceed with business as normal would be a risk to my client's rights."
He once again reiterated sentiments expressed earlier on in the week whereby he informed the court that there were two case dockets from the police for the same incident, numbered 636 and 375, which had completely different theories and suspects.
"The police members are on a collision course which is not helping the justice in this country as we can't have a situation whereby we have different cases and theories for the same incident."
Teffo also took an issue with why the National Director of Public Prosecutions had transferred the matter to the north divisional court instead of the south division where the incident took place.
The defence stressed that they wanted to deal with the confessions, prior appearances, as well as different case dockets as they believed the only thing linking his clients to all the charges levelled against them were the forced confessions.
State prosecutor advocate George Baloyi told the court the state would deal with those as and when they came up in the trial.
Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela said as the issues were not brought up properly as per the procedure for the courts, he would request for advocate Zandile Mshololo to continue with her cross-examination instead.
Despite this, Teffo informed the court he would be bringing a formal application on Monday to that effect.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa as well as Sifokuhle Ntuli are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition for the murder of Meyiwa whilst he was at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo's home in Vosloorus.
Pretoria News